A travesty in Hazleton | Opinion

Updated Apr 03, 2019; Posted Apr 03, 2019

By Jamie Longazel

Avideo of a Hazleton Area High School (HAHS) student of color having her head slammed onto a table by a school police officer went viral in early February. The community – particularly Latina moms, who are all-too-familiar with their children experiencing mistreatment of this sort – has been in an uproar since.

As a HAHS graduate and author of abook about how local leaders fueled anti-immigrant sentiment in Hazleton, I’ve been watching this case closely and working alongside those community members.

We’re demanding answers and reforms. But have yet to get any.

Hazleton, which infamously passed the exclusionary Illegal Immigration Relief Act (IIRA) in 2006, has received a large influx of Latino immigrants over the past two decades. Unlike manysimilar communities which have taken a proactive approach to accommodate changing demographics, Hazleton – and especially HASD – has been reactive at best and typically outright unaccommodating.

While the board has had plenty of time to hire more Hispanic teachers – especially bilingual teachers – they have failed to make this a priority.

According to the most recent data I received from a Right to Know request, 98.6% of HASD teachers identify as white.Theboard also is 100% white.

Yet only five teachers – 0.6% – identify as Hispanic.

Such disparities coupled with, as I’ve writtenelsewhere, a lingering tendency to see Hispanic students as suspects rather than scholars, it is no surprise that school discipline is carried out very unevenly in this district.

According to2015 Civil Rights data from the Department of Education, Hispanics and other students of color (who at the time accounted for 52% of all students) represent 72% of HASD’s in-school suspensions, 69.1% of its out-of-school suspensions, and all eight (100%) of the students the district expelled.

Despite these glaring problems, the board has been ostentatiously unwilling to listen to the community’s demands.

On February 12, I joined community members and local activists whoheld a rally in frigid temperatures outside the school’s administration building before packing the board meeting and speaking out. Many expressed how appalling it was to them that the officer caught on tape using excessive force was still working in the schools. Many explained to the board how this case is more a trend than an anomaly.

To his credit, Superintendent Brian Uplinger promised that school police officers would receive additional training, but not once did he reprimand the officers’ actions despite twice reprimanding violence among students.

But Uplinger has little experience with diverse student bodies. He came to Hazleton after his contract at Central Greene School District (CGSD) was not renewed. CGSD’s enrollment is about one-sixth the size of HASD’s and roughly97% of its students identify as white.

At the meeting, board members were noticeably inattentive. Some members got up to take cell phone calls in the middle of constituent testimonies. Boar President Robert Fiume put on his coat and walked out without explanation, as a young Latina and recent HAHS graduate testified about her high school experience.

Nearly 1,000 HAHS alumni have signed aletter submitted to Superintendent Uplinger and Director of Security & Police Services Ed Harry calling for the suspension of the officer involved. So far, there’s been no response.

The coalition that has been fighting for justice in this case remains united, with plans to show up again and again at subsequent board meetings until their demands are met. They also have support from local, state, and national organizations. And the incident has prompted several Latinas to run for a seat on the School Board in the upcoming election.

Such problems remain endemic across the state and the country. Students of color continue to be brutalized by school police officers, continue to be disproportionately disciplined and disciplined more harshly, and continue to be prepared not for careers, but for prison.

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Jamie Longazel is Associate Professor at John Jay College, City University of New York. He is also the author of Undocumented Fears: Immigration and the Politics of Divide and Conquer in Hazleton, Pennsylvania and the co-founder of Anthracite Unite. You can learn more about his work at www.JamieLongazel.com and follow him on Twitter, @Jlongazel.

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